The Pickford Film Center is happy to announce that its Doc-ED program for 2022 was a resounding success!
Every October, Pickford Film Center offers free tickets and free transportation to every middle school in the county to bring their students to our theater to see age and curriculum appropriate documentary films. The program returned after a two-year pandemic hiatus and 2022 marks the 7th year for Doc-ED.
Pickford Film Center’s Education Coordinator Lesley Schroeder fired up the projectors for a total of 31 screenings, offering three different film programs between October 5 and November 22. Thirteen separate schools participated bringing a total of 3,102 students.
The PFC also commissioned educator Hannah Kohl to develop in-depth discussion guides that were sent to each school and distributed to the classroom teachers whose students attended.
The three film programs offered were: Zero Gravity, a feature-length documentary following a group of middle school students in San Jose as they compete to participate in an International Space Station project; Rivers, Food and Culture a group of six short, geographically diverse films by and about Native American people working to restore their land, food and culture; and Extraordinary! Two thirty-minute shorts about young people in their 20s doing groundbreaking things. A young woman and her dog hiked 1,200 miles along the Ice Age Trail in a freezing Wisconsin winter and a young woman in Maine became the youngest individual elected to their state legislature.
Doc-ED 2022 was generously supported by the WECU Education First fund and runs in conjunction with Doctober, Pickford Film Center’s month-long documentary film festival.
Founded in 1998, the Pickford Film Center serves the Whatcom community by screening independent films 365 days a year, producing and presenting the annual Doctober film festival, the Bellingham Children’s Film Festival, numerous film series and special events. The Pickford offers free documentary film showings to all Whatcom middle schools through Doc-ED and partners with students and schools for many other events during the year.
